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25/08/2015

Family Travel - going inclusive

We have up until this point always booked our holidays independently and have always made our own way places or booked travel and accommodation separately but now Baby G is 6 months and we have had a pretty miserable summer in terms of weather we are thinking of possibly taking an all inclusive trip to somewhere hot that involves minimal organisation on our part making it as stressless as possible, giving us as much time to relax and soak up some much needed sun. So I thought I would lay out the pros of going all inclusive...

Vacation should be a fun time and it is but sometimes that are a lot of hassles, especially if your travelling overseas. You don’t know where to stay, you don’t know how you’ll get transportation, there are language and currency issues and getting tours and excursions set up without knowing the local terrain is difficult. There’s also not knowing where you’re going to eat your meals and that’s not something you can plan for beforehand, this can also be exciting exploring somewhere new but when you have a young baby in toll it can cause some problems. Luckily, there are all inclusive resorts that take the hassle out of your vacation, especially if the purpose of the holiday is just to relax, slow down and not worry about a thing.

Mr A in Cannes

Before you travel you can research places to stay but when you get there you don’t always get what you think you’re getting. A lot of inclusive resorts are fairly big and well known and it’s easy to find fairly honest and unbiased guest reviews online on things like TripAdvisor. There’s a good chance you’ll know exactly what you’re getting if you go with a popular all inclusive resort.

Arranging for transportation beforehand can be done but it’s not always reliable, for example I remember being stuck at the bus station in Bratislava with no idea how to get to the nearest bureau de change and my pre-arranged taxi had not shown up. If you book with an all inclusive resort, they can arrange transportation for you and if your travelling with kids this can be a massive help, also if there’s a problem beyond your or their control, they can solve the problem themselves. They can even arrange transportation for any tours or local places you might want to visit.

Enjoying some family adventures on a trip to London

International travel most always includes dealing with unfamiliar languages and currencies. Since all inclusive resorts include everything, you don’t need the local currency and their staff speaks English. You can take away the hassle of language and currency by staying at an all inclusive resort.

You also might know what you might want to see and do but you don’t know which operators or tours are good and which ones won’t rip you offer. The all inclusive resort does know and can make any arrangements you want. Most also allow you to book these tours with your account at the resort rather than having to make payments to the variety of tour operators. And if you don’t know what you want to do, they have suggestions.

Local restaurants can be hit or miss. You might get overcharged or not like the food at all. Plus, you waste time going to and from 3 times a day to eat your breakfast, lunch and dinner. At an all inclusive resort your breakfast, lunch and dinner are all taken care of and on site. You can even have them delivered to your room, pool or beach spot. And don’t forget drinks. Most all inclusive resorts give you unlimited drinks and offer them anywhere on the resort. There are many advantages to staying at all inclusive resorts when travelling, especially international travel. Have everything taken care of for you and enjoy your much needed vacation without any hassles.

You make some good points about all-inclusive. It's easy to be snobbish about them but so many fab resorts these days offer all-inclusive options. Going that route can really take the stress out of family trip planning.

When I've got all the kids with me I must admit I like the security of an all inclusive package. You have the tour operator to fall back on and as you said, connecting travel is easier. We went to Cyprus last year and unashamedly didn't leave the hotel. We could have been anywhere but we just went for the weather and a relaxing time and it was great. When they are a little older we'll get properly travelling again!

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